Brincando nos Campos do Senhor

Directed by Academy Award nominated Argentinian-Brazilian writer-director Hector Babenco and co-written by a longtime Luis Buñuel collaborator Jean Claude Carriere this is a breathtakingly beautiful, masterfully directed film, that features a story of two protestant missionary couples from a small town in U.S. that come to Amazonia with an intent to preach to the wild Indians of the area and an American pilot, wonderfully played by Tom Berenger, who feels atracted to the way of life of the Indians and joins and lives with them. Following the life of it´s protagonists in Amazonian forest, the film explores many subjects, such as: religious fanaticism and intolerance, ecology, destructive external influence on an unique Indian culture and, of cause, lust and greed. It´s slowly paced and has a duration of over 3 hours but it never became boring, at least for me. I was surprised to find that this film has an average rating of only 6.3 here on IMDB. It certainly deserves much more. 8/10

A late adaptation of author-naturalist Peter Mathiessen's 1965 novel about missionaries in South America (Aidan Quinn and John Lithgow), their wives (Kathy Bates and Darryl Hannah, respectively) and their chance encounter with an American Indian (Tom Berenger) who is trying to exorcise the ghosts of his life on the reservation by joining a stone age tribe that the missionaries are trying to convert. This is a remarkable cast for a movie with such intense, personal themes, and each of the actors delivers an excellent performance. Berenger was perhaps an odd choice to play an American Indian, but he does the best that he can with the role.

Mathiessen is one of the great writers of the late twentieth century--an American answer to Graham Greene or Joseph Conrad, perhaps--whose literary canvas is literally almost the entire world. This is an appropriately challenging and demanding interpretation of his always challenging and demanding (though under-appreciated) work.

I don't really have a problem if a reviewer, that is, a Siskle or Ebert type wants to give this a bad rating. That's what they are paid for - to find fault in movies.

But everyone I know loved this film, well, maybe loved isn't the best word. It was at times painful, but it was very beautiful and very vivid and one of my favorite films.

I was surprised when I looked for this on Netflix and it wasn't available. With all the junk on DVD, this is a beautifly filled, intense movie with a real story. I don't know why it doesn't have more recognition.

In "At Play in the Fields of the Lord", the remarkable Hector Babenco (Pixote, Kiss of the Spider Woman) paints a portrait of disillusion and despair on a canvas of sun-dappled green.

This is no mere tract on the consequences of cultural imperialism, but an examination of the myriad ways in which human folly, ignorance and arrogance (with an assist from the heedless juggernaut of Nature) conspire to overcome idealism, innocence, and the fragile constructs of civilization. This is not a "feel-good" flick, but it is a powerful and affecting one.

The actors involved--including Tom Berenger, Aidann Quinn, John Lithgow and Daryl Hannah (!)--all give intelligent and well-modulated performances. And, once again, the astonishing Kathy Bates blows everyone else away with her wrenching turn as Quinn's reluctant (and ultimately devastated) wife.

The film is long, dark and stubbornly pessimistic-- but also visually lush and emotionally cathartic; ultimately, the viewer will find it unforgettable.

Tom Berenger does his second best work here (after Platoon). Kathy Bates is very good, as is Aidan Quinn and John Lithgow. The Shikste is good as well. The production values are first-rate and the script is well-crafted. Even the unwieldy length of the film (over three hours) is not that noticeable. It is a quite beautiful film in many ways, as well as tragic in some ways. Who are the real savages? The natives or the civilizers? Berenger's character is the most interesting of the lot. An American Indian who tries to get back in touch with his roots. The film is well-worth sitting through three hours. I particularly liked the scene where Kathy Bates goes off the deep end. This version of modern-day christians trying to civilize the Amazon people is pretty much a follow-up of The Mission, made six years before with Robert DiNero and Jeremy Irons. That film had better music, but this film has better character development. Both films are well worth your time, as I am sure my former brother in law, who was a missionary in Africa, has seen at least one, if not both, of these films.